Interesting news/ development announced last 2 days in relation to the JIS situation.....the word 'international' must be dropped by all 'foreign' schools in Jakarta......this is according to Tempo, and Indonesian language lessons +lessons in Pancasila are to become compulsory for 'all' students. Only 3-4 years ago that the National + schools were all clamouring for accreditiation in order to be known as 'international' schools!

Interesting news/ development announced last 2 days in relation to the JIS situation.....the word 'international' must be dropped by all 'foreign' schools in Jakarta......this is according to Tempo, and Indonesian language lessons +lessons in Pancasila are to become compulsory for 'all' students. Only 3-4 years ago that the National + schools were all clamouring for accreditiation in order to be known as 'international' schools!

And the country wonders why foreign investors are wary. Ad hoc decisions made and changed with no consultation. Why are students being forced to study religion and Pancasila? Parents were sending their kids to these formerly international schools to get away from religious indoctrination and nationalism. Once again DIKNAS makes everything worse.

Oh and the latest from JIS is that the mother is now demanding, get this, $125 million in damages. The lawyer is going after the group which owns the cleaning contractor company, which just so happens to include Goldman Sachs. Tell me this isn't turning into a sordid treasure hunt. The case is now so big Wall Street is taking note. The story has been featured in every edition of the Wall Street Journal. I guess Goldman Sachs are not impressed.

This case has taken a new disturbing turn. 3 teachers from the school have also been accused of assaulting the same boy in a separate incident to the 6 janitors. Mind you, this is now 3 months after the first allegations were made, and oddly the mother and boy were tagged along on a night raid to "gather evidence". Also the alleged assault is claimed to have taken place in a glass-walled office in the school lobby during school hours, which hardly seems plausible. This whole scenario is seeming more and more far-fetched. Many people in Jakarta believe that the child is being coached and fresh allegations are being made to help strengthen the legal case against JIS.

In terms of the impact on teachers, you can already see job ads asking for criminal record checks. There was one in Lombok the other day and it demanded "criminal clearance". The ripples of this case are being felt across the whole industry.

As I said a few days ago, this is a treasure hunt now. Do I believe that the Canadian female school principal was filming a sexual assault by two of her teachers on video camera? No. Do I believe that this child is being exploited by his mother? Without a doubt. After this new set of "memories" was uncovered she upped the compensation claim by ten times to $125 million. And the police in Indonesia ... well the locals are terrified of them for a very good reason. If you know about law enforcement in Indonesia, you know it is very often for sale. This case is becoming a travesty. Imagine how these teachers feel at the moment and all of it based on increasingly implausible claims.

I just finished getting an SKCK (Indonesian Police Criminal Check) which was required for a job in Malaysia. Since I wasn't working at the time and was being sponsored by my Indonesian wife on a Social Visa (SOSBUD), getting the SKCK was a classic example of the inefficiency of processing any kind of documents in this country.

My wife and I went to 5 different government offices which took 8 visits and the final visit to Jakarta which was the easiest of the entire process which I found to be astonishing. I had to get reference letters from my wife's home even though we don't actually live there, but most paperwork is based on the family card. How in the world would any of these small town "police officials" know if I had a criminal background since I've never even lived in that area?

The idea of checking backgrounds is a good thing if it is effective, but based on what I just experienced there's no real investigation into my background. This country has no nationwide database to verify crimes in other parts of the country. So, again. Like most requests for documents in this country, it's a joke which ended up costing me millions of rupiah for transport, hotels and "tea" money which in the end proved useless.

So, as I've said before, Indonesia keeps raising the bar on the requirements of teachers without increasing compensation.

I'm looking forward to a change and will be posting on the Malaysia board my experiences. From what my friends on the ground there have already told me that it is a better lifestyle than Indo. I hope so.

The witch hunt is well and truly underway.....several good friends with many years of teaching experience have left the country, alongside myself, during the last couple of months.I left for the middle east last summer. Going back to the JIS case-as already pointed out this whole issue of abuse within the school has gone from a plausible, real situation into the realm of absolute exploitative fantasy now-and a very sick fantasy at that. Sadly, everything seems to come down to money and graft in Indonesia, the need for teachers to have a criminal clearance check will become yet another money making opportunity for both government workers and the agents that process the papework. Ultimately, 'raising the bar' in Indonesia is simply a means of raising money for some people....

The witch hunt is well and truly underway.....several good friends with many years of teaching experience have left the country, alongside myself, during the last couple of months.I left for the middle east last summer. Going back to the JIS case-as already pointed out this whole issue of abuse within the school has gone from a plausible, real situation into the realm of absolute exploitative fantasy now-and a very sick fantasy at that. Sadly, everything seems to come down to money and graft in Indonesia, the need for teachers to have a criminal clearance check will become yet another money making opportunity for both government workers and the agents that process the papework. Ultimately, 'raising the bar' in Indonesia is simply a means of raising money for some people....

The mother is alleging that there were 9 different pedophiles active at JIS at the same time including the female school principal (very convenient for her $125 million lawsuit that detail.) Not only that but all 9 picked on her child in particular for some reason. There are far fetched attempts to connect all the dots by alleging that the janitors, teachers and principal were all somehow "conspiring together ". Interesting to see that the second "victim" was found not to have been interfered with after all when he was examined in Singapore. But this mother is now seeking "alternative opinions" at Jakarta hospitals. One wonders how much it'll cost to get the answer she wants.

The witch hunt is well and truly underway.....several good friends with many years of teaching experience have left the country, alongside myself, during the last couple of months.I left for the middle east last summer. Going back to the JIS case-as already pointed out this whole issue of abuse within the school has gone from a plausible, real situation into the realm of absolute exploitative fantasy now-and a very sick fantasy at that. Sadly, everything seems to come down to money and graft in Indonesia, the need for teachers to have a criminal clearance check will become yet another money making opportunity for both government workers and the agents that process the papework. Ultimately, 'raising the bar' in Indonesia is simply a means of raising money for some people....

The mother is alleging that there were 9 different pedophiles active at JIS at the same time including the female school principal (very convenient for her $125 million lawsuit that detail.) Not only that but all 9 picked on her child in particular for some reason. There are far fetched attempts to connect all the dots by alleging that the janitors, teachers and principal were all somehow "conspiring together ". Interesting to see that the second "victim" was found not to have been interfered with after all when he was examined in Singapore. But this mother is now seeking "alternative opinions" at Jakarta hospitals. One wonders how much it'll cost to get the answer she wants.

That's exactly what has been going on. The witch hunt still has legs. The police now say that even more suspects are going to be named next week. Frighteningly, the police have now accused the last suspects of being "defensive" for denying they had committed rape. The whole thing reminds me of some kind of Spanish Inquisition type situation. Claiming to be innocent is seen as some kind of suspicious inference of guilt! And any claims that are made are treated as gospel, even when the medical evidence proves the opposite. Guilty until proven innocent seems to be the operating procedure.

Sadly, no one from other schools seems to want to get involved. They are probably scared they will be next. This is understandable, but when the allegations are so unbelievable (the rapes happened in broad daylight in a glass-walled room in the school lobby, with the female principal recording it on Digicam), you would hope someone would speak out more forcibly. This seems to be little more than a stand-over operation with lawyers and the police terrorizing the school to get a pile of cash. The nationalist elements in the local media are frothing at the mouth with stereotypes of "depraved Westerners" and not even asking is the story believable, which it hasn't been for some time.

“One mother had her son checked for signs of abuse at a hospital in Singapore, but it found no signs of molestation. The mother is seeking to obtain a letter from a local hospital that will report different conclusions,” the school said in the statement.

The school added that the mother of the first victim, who had filed a lawsuit against the school management demanding US$13.5 million in compensation, suddenly increased the demand to $125 million after the new allegations against the teaching staff were revealed."

2 teachers have now been officially named as "suspects", bringing the total number of alleged rapists at the school to 8. Strangely, the testimony originally claimed that the female principal had been video-taping the assaults on Digicam but she hasn't been named as a suspect. She is just a "witness".

These latest alleged assaults are based on memories "recovered" in therapy and did not emerge until 3 months after the original claims of 6 janitors abusing the student. The 2 teachers apparently challenged the police to produce evidence and there is none apart from the "recovered memories". Serious doubts about false memory syndrome must now exist considering the fanciful nature of some of the claims. The assault apparently occurred in a glass-walled office during school hours.

The fact that the janitor who refused to confess at the police station was found dead in his cell due to drinking bleach is worrying. The suspicion has long been that the police have coerced the confessions using torture techniques, which is very common in the country.

I just finished getting an SKCK (Indonesian Police Criminal Check) which was required for a job in Malaysia. Since I wasn't working at the time and was being sponsored by my Indonesian wife on a Social Visa (SOSBUD), getting the SKCK was a classic example of the inefficiency of processing any kind of documents in this country.

My wife and I went to 5 different government offices which took 8 visits and the final visit to Jakarta which was the easiest of the entire process which I found to be astonishing. I had to get reference letters from my wife's home even though we don't actually live there, but most paperwork is based on the family card. How in the world would any of these small town "police officials" know if I had a criminal background since I've never even lived in that area?

The idea of checking backgrounds is a good thing if it is effective, but based on what I just experienced there's no real investigation into my background. This country has no nationwide database to verify crimes in other parts of the country. So, again. Like most requests for documents in this country, it's a joke which ended up costing me millions of rupiah for transport, hotels and "tea" money which in the end proved useless.

So, as I've said before, Indonesia keeps raising the bar on the requirements of teachers without increasing compensation.

I'm looking forward to a change and will be posting on the Malaysia board my experiences. From what my friends on the ground there have already told me that it is a better lifestyle than Indo. I hope so.

In terms of corruption, Indonesia has gone backwards in every category over the past 2 years. According to Transparency International, a corruption watchdog, over 90% of locals think the police and courts are very corrupt. 2/3 of locals knew someone in their family who had paid a bribe in the past 12 months. Generally Indonesians are afraid of the police. No one in Indonesia finds it unlikely that the police could conspire with a lawyer to try and get a massive payout from a rich school. The case has already generated a lot of resentment from expat teachers.

There is now a 200 page long thread about this case on the Living in Indonesia forum, a popular Indonesian expat forum. It must be a true nightmare to be a teacher at JIS right now living under a cloud of innuendo and suspicion.

Currently 282 pages and ten times as many posts. A fair number of them are mine.

The administrator (NB) and assistant teacher (FT) have now been detained after being called in and questioned for, apparently, about ten to twelve hours.

Seems like the sudden revelation of the "Vahey files" in the middle of all this was a truly unfortunate coincidence for the JIS, as it really helped to fan the flames and furor of the witchhunt. That, combined with the timing in the middle of a Presidential election.

JIS is my alma mater, by the way. I attended JES (Joint Embassy School) for a few years in the mid-70s.

There are rumors that (at least) one of the accusing parents has a history of symptoms of mental problems (probably BPD / NPD), notably, telling outrageous mistruths to get attention.

There is now a 200 page long thread about this case on the Living in Indonesia forum, a popular Indonesian expat forum. It must be a true nightmare to be a teacher at JIS right now living under a cloud of innuendo and suspicion.

Currently 282 pages and ten times as many posts. A fair number of them are mine.

The administrator (NB) and assistant teacher (FT) have now been detained after being called in and questioned for, apparently, about ten to twelve hours.

Seems like the sudden revelation of the "Vahey files" in the middle of all this was a truly unfortunate coincidence for the JIS, as it really helped to fan the flames and furor of the witchhunt. That, combined with the timing in the middle of a Presidential election.

JIS is my alma mater, by the way. I attended JES (Joint Embassy School) for a few years in the mid-70s.

There are rumors that (at least) one of the accusing parents has a history of symptoms of mental problems (probably BPD / NPD), notably, telling outrageous mistruths to get attention.

Well done if you have been contributing to that thread. The debate there has brought a degree of rationality in the midst of all the hysteria. While it is very important to combat the sexual abuse of children, there is no worse way to do it than turning it into a witch-hunt. Cases must be investigated in an impartial way, not turned into a media circus or cash-grab.

Ultimately the whole case is a microcosm of what is wrong with Indonesia. The police and courts can't be trusted; justice is for sale. We recently had the head of the Constitutional Court jailed for selling election wins to governors. That isn't a democracy; it's a travesty. When the rot goes all the way to the top in the courts and politics, public trust of institutions rates near zero and you can never tell what the truth is. Right now many people are worried that Prabowo will win the election by fraud, just as there is no assurance of justice for the teachers at this school.

However, it is up to the Indonesian people to clean up their electoral process and their courts. They should realize, however, that the "foreign scapegoat" option is not one which leads to prosperity and success. Did Uganda become wealthy just because Idi Amin ordered all the Indians out?

The two latest teacher "suspects" have been given polygraph tests. These are not admissible evidence in just about every developed country these days because they are not accurate enough. It has been widely established, for example, that pathological liars can often pass these tests because they lie so easily that doing so doesn't even cause signs of physiological arousal. Innocent people under great stress have also been known to "fail" them.

Anyway, these dubious tests were done days ago, but the police have sat on the results. This is despite the fact that the results are available in 15-30 minutes. Since then the police have variously refused to release the results and, at one point, even denied that the test took place! I guess we know what the results said, and it doesn't support the money-grabbing antics of the mother and police.

Again and again when the authorities don't get the answer they want, they just ignore the contradictory evidence and look for someone or something who tells them what they want to hear. It's a classic case of confirmation bias at best.

The police are also refusing to ask the mother to take a polygraph test about whether she has pushed her child to make these claims etc.

The two latest teacher "suspects" have been given polygraph tests. These are not admissible evidence in just about every developed country these days because they are not accurate enough. It has been widely established, for example, that pathological liars can often pass these tests because they lie so easily that doing so doesn't even cause signs of physiological arousal. Innocent people under great stress have also been known to "fail" them.

I think people taking the polygraph can feel anxiety about events that their minds associate with the questions asked and can fail the specific questions on the test. Also like you mentioned people that are sociopaths and don't feel any social anxiety can pass the questions on the test.